Monday, 17 December 2012

Environmental health inspectors have been told to take a hard line on burgers that are not fully cooked through, but Michelin-starred Angela Hartnett, chef patron at Murano in Mayfair and York & Albany gastropub, said Westminster city council should stop meddling and concentrate on “bigger issues”.

She said: "I’ve eaten raw meat, well-done meat — it has never done me any harm. Why not sort out the bike lanes or the traffic?"

Suitably fired up, the Mayor of London has promptly swung into action...

Boris Johnson has branded rickshaws dangerous and called for them to be banned from the West End.

The Mayor said even responsible operators "cannot ensure the safety of their passengers" and are adding to night-time traffic jams. He wants new laws that would give him the power to sweep the unlicensed and often uninsured pedicabs from central London.

So if "eating a raw burger travelling through London in a rickshaw" is on your things-to-do list, you'd better hurry up. It is unreported whether rickshaw drivers have contacted the council suggested they keep their nose out of people's private travel arrangements and concentrate on bigger issues, like food poisoning.

L, "monger" is like "spree". There's ironmonger and fishmonger and that's it. Similarly, you can have a killing spree or a shopping spree, but I'm not aware of any other kind (apart from the river in Berlin).

G, I think this is a regulation thing rather than a tax thing. And can't the bus driver just blow his horn? (to the extent that a London bus has ever done more than 5mph in the middle of town anyway).

B, fair point, but the last time I popped out to stock up on costers he was closed. So I went to Coster Coffee instead. Where a cup of coffee costers over £2. They didn't even have any saucers left so they gave me a coster instead.